From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1030820AbXDQRvG (ORCPT ); Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:51:06 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1030812AbXDQRvG (ORCPT ); Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:51:06 -0400 Received: from thunk.org ([69.25.196.29]:60422 "EHLO thunker.thunk.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1030820AbXDQRvE (ORCPT ); Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:51:04 -0400 Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:50:55 -0400 From: Theodore Tso To: Daniel Hazelton Cc: Tomasz =?utf-8?Q?K=C5=82oczko?= , "David R. Litwin" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: ZFS with Linux: An Open Plea Message-ID: <20070417175055.GA24963@thunk.org> Mail-Followup-To: Theodore Tso , Daniel Hazelton , Tomasz =?utf-8?Q?K=C5=82oczko?= , "David R. Litwin" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org References: <20070417131045.GB18373@thunk.org> <200704171222.19892.dhazelton@enter.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200704171222.19892.dhazelton@enter.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.13 (2006-08-11) X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP: X-SA-Exim-Mail-From: tytso@thunk.org X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No (on thunker.thunk.org); SAEximRunCond expanded to false Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 12:22:19PM -0400, Daniel Hazelton wrote: > Nope. You've just ignored it when it was explained *why* the existing ZFS code > cannot be simply be ported to Linux. If you really need ZFS on linux, might I > suggest that you port the code on your own and maintain whatever patches are > needed to use it? As it stands ZFS *might* show up in Linux as a from-scratch > implementation, although I stress the "might" because there are patents > involved. Given that Sun has reportedly filed a huge number of patents covering ZFS and has refused to make them available for anything other than Solaris --- and there are senior Sun programmers who have on record stated that one of the reasons why Sun picked the CDDL was precisely because it was incompatible with GPL and Sun fears Linux ---- I wouldn't bet on Sun being willing to making a patent license available to a hypothetical alternate implementation of the ZFS format for Linux. Again, this is is Sun's fault, and it's because they fear Linux, and it may have something to do with the fact that the vast majority of their Opteron boxes get Linux installed instead of Solaris. The bottom line is that people who would like ZFS need to understand that the code is Copyright by Sun, and there are almost certainly patents owned by Sun, and if they choose licenses that are explicitly designed to be incompatible with Linux, we should respect Sun's deep-seated fear of Linux, and we can continue trying to innovate around better filesystem and LVM storage technologies, as opposed to trying to chase the ZFS tail lights. Of course, this is all open source. If someone wants to work on reimplementing ZFS from scratch, either in userspace or in the kernel, certainly the Linux community won't stop them. Given the patent issues Linus might not feel comfortable including it in the mainline sources without a promise from Sun that they won't sue the pants off of him and The Linux Foundation, but again, that's Sun's decision, and no one else can help you there. - Ted